Star Trek: The Federation and Starfleet

I’ve been watching Star Trek as long as I can remember. As a child, of course, the big science fiction fun of it all caught me, and then as I grew older the depth of it caught my eye instead. And as I went I realized that the grounding concepts that kept me there, kept me loving Star Trek in all its forms, was obvious.

The Federation and Starfleet. Not the organizations themselves, of course, so much as the spirit behind them.

The idea that humanity could reach beyond itself. That together we could build something far greater than simply humanity. The concept that humanity itself could aspire to something bigger and grander than our current crop of governmental systems all geared around power, and who holds it.

Even Star Trek needed to admit that the growth would take a serious, deadly, upheaval. But at the other end would be hope. So yes, an event, a series of them, and a time, where we could hopefully cast off what we have and are locked into and rebuild it into something else.

Would there always be danger? Of course. No matter how enlightened you may be that doesn’t mean the universe bends to your will. Nor should it. The universe is a scary, enormous, place full of wonder and it will do as it wants.

But we can exist within it in an attempt to recognize the dangers, be ready for them as best we can, and choose to explore and embrace regardless.

That push for the future, the ever-ongoing quest to be the best version of ourselves, to work together toward common goals of exploration and knowledge, and to accept that at times that might lead to dangerous roads worth taking is what Star Trek is. It’s what the Federation and Starfleet both stand for.

It’s what my love of the creative universe is grounded in.

And I look around and think back to when there would be a Star Trek show, maybe a movie every few years. Possibly two shows overlapping some, at most. They all proved fine examples of one end of the spectrum or another of those goals.

Now? We have multiple shows all doing it at once, all aimed at slightly different audiences, casting the net wider than ever but still holding true to those core ideals. It’s an amazing time to be a fan of Star Trek, the best time in the history of the creative universe, I’d wager.

And my love of it, and belief in its ideals, are stronger than ever.